


A Peek into Peter Parker's Profession

by Isi1dur



Series: Legacy [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Genre: Bullying, Confident Peter Parker, Confused Avengers, Field Trip, First Kiss, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Irondad, PrincessSpider, Teasing, spiderson
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-14
Updated: 2019-05-13
Packaged: 2020-01-13 08:40:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18465424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Isi1dur/pseuds/Isi1dur
Summary: Peter is known around SI as "Junior." He pretty much runs the place and everyone loves him.





	1. Trip

**Author's Note:**

> High-low! This is another addition to the Field Trip Trope. There will never be enough of those!  
> This is in the same universe as "Rescue" and it is set a few months before it.
> 
> I hope you like it!

Peter was not happy; not happy at all. His decathlon team was going on a surprise-location field trip and he couldn’t even go. Too many absences? really? Since when was attendance a prerequisite? Ok, it probably was always a prerequisite, but it’s not his fault! Really! He had been on several missions with the Avengers and, yeah, he had missed many school days, but not like twenty days. Just, more like fifteen. In the past two months. Yeah, that’s still a lot. _Sigh_.

 

Ned had promised to take plenty of pictures of the trip if he could but he wouldn’t send them to Peter until tomorrow because he wanted to enjoy the trip as much as possible. So, Peter slept in; had breakfast late in the morning; and then went down to the R&D labs in his pajamas. They were Spider-Man pajamas because he absolutely refused to wear the Iron Man pajamas Tony had gotten him. He had visited the lower labs yesterday, so he’ll probably start off in the medium-level labs today. Sighing happily, Peter put the thought of the mystery location field trip out of his mind.

 

__________________________________________

 

 

“Welcome to SI, students of Midtown High! My name is Doris and I will be your tour guide today! If you could come up when I call your name and grab a visitor’s pass, we can get this show on the road!”

 

“So, Ned, where’s Parker? If he’s not on the trip, wouldn’t he be spending as much time as possible at his _internship?_ Unless it isn’t real?”

 

Ned rolled his eyes and grabbed a visitor pass, “You really think he would be hanging out in the lobby for his internship?”

 

Flash shoved Ned roughly, “Don’t get smart with me, Fatso.”

 

The tour guide spoke up at that moment, “Now, we have to go over the rules: keep your passes visible at all times, do not stray from the group, and _no bullying._ We do not tolerate unpleasant behavior in the Tower and if you break any of these rules, you will be escorted from the building. If you would follow me to the elevator, please.” _That_ calmed Flash down a bit; he wasn’t going to risk getting kicked out of _Stark Tower._

 

The group filtered into the elevator, which rose without any prompting. “We are heading to the Lower Labs. These labs are mainly occupied by the newer interns, who do simple coding on robotics and work on their own projects. Progression up the internship ladder is achieved by demonstrating personal initiative and ingenuity, so most of the lower level interns spend nearly all of their time on their own projects.” Doris paused as the elevator opened. “Now, the interns here have been told you will be coming through so feel free to ask questions and look around. You may end up working here at some point in the future.”

 

Flash raised his hand, “Does SI hire high-school interns?”

 

Doris thought for a moment then answered, “As far as I know, there is only one, Junior.”

 

Flash was miffed; it couldn’t be Parker . . . right?

 

_________________________________________

 

 

Peter greeted the other interns in the Middle Labs as he passed them and joined the group working on a fairly simple (for SI) problem about the arc reactor. They seemed to be trying to decrease the decay rate of the reactor while keeping the energy output the same. _Interesting._

 

“Junior! I am _so_ glad you came. This was on the back burner for about a week now but we really need it done soon. We’re trying to decrease the decay rate—”

 

“—of the reactor while keeping the energy output the same. Right, let’s see.” Peter examined the board closely, trying to find a point for improvement. He climbed onto a desk and flopped onto his back, tilting his head to look at the board.

 

Absentmindedly, he heard someone whisper, “It always scared me how he can just look at an equation and figure out what we’re trying to do.”

 

He smiled slightly and pointed to a portion of the board, “These parts, here and here, you do _this_ ” he erased the sections and changed them, writing upside down, and then pointed to the diagram “and reinforce this part here with some tantalum carbide and . . . success!”

 

The interns stared at the board for a full ten seconds before breaking into cheers and slapping Peter on the back. One of the interns—he looked new—whisper-shouted, “Are you freaking kidding me?! How in the world did he solve that so fast? Also, why was he doing it upside down?”

 

Someone answered him, “You get used to it; the upside-down thing—we have no clue, but he seems to work better like that. How he solved it so fast—he’s the boss’s personal intern and being a genius is kind-of a prerequisite for that position.”

 

Peter blushed and rubbed the back of his neck, “Well, I’m . . going to go see who else needs help. See you guys later!” No one else on this level seemed to need any help, so he slipped into the elevator and took it up.

 

___________________________________

 

 

“And now we’re arriving at the Middle Labs. If you thought some of the lower labs were crazy, this place is insane! Here, we constantly work on finding ever more efficient sources of clean energy, solutions to hunger in third-world countries, and trying to improve the world in general through technological means. Those of you in robotics club will love this part as over here” she gestured as she walked “we are currently developing a robot that will act as an assistant to the elderly. It will perform actions such as administering medicine, facilitating moving around, and potentially preparing food. It will even have simple medical tools to provide assistance in case of an emergency: tools such as a defibrillator; replaceable needles for emergency glucose injections, antihistamines, and even an emergency blood transfusion; as well as instant bandages based off Spider-Man’s webs. Yes?” she called on a student—Sally—who was raising her hand.

 

“Does Spider-Man work with SI?”

 

“Not directly; Junior makes his tech and convinced him to allow his webs to be used in a medical setting.”

 

They walked through the labs, observing the scientists and interns working on amazing projects they were fascinated to see. “Here we have a group working on the arc reactor; for security reasons, we can’t show you the equations involved, but I can tell you they are trying to make it more efficient.” They noticed the group were smiling and patting each other on the back and Doris looked intrigued, “What happened? You guys have a breakthrough?”

 

They nodded vigorously, and one of the newer interns—identified by a green stripe on his lab coat—said, “Junior stopped by and you should have see him! He looked at the board _upside-down_ , which was weird by the way, and solved our problem in seconds! He just _looked_ at the equation and could tell what we were trying to do! Doris, do you have any idea where Stark found this kid?!”

 

Doris shook her head, “I have no idea. Is he still here? I would like it if he could say something to the group.”

 

“Nah he moved on to some of the Higher Labs. Are you guys going up there?” he asked wistfully.

 

“Yep!” she popped the p, “In a little bit; we’re going to see a few more of the projects on the Middle Levels before we see the Big Stuff.”

 

The decathlon team looked at each other in wonder: if all _this_ wasn’t the big stuff, what was?

 

____________________________________

 

 

By 3:00, Peter had made his way up to the Higher Labs, where interns frequently worked on Avengers’ tech. There he saw a group of interns frantically working on a highly complex equation. Karen, (who’s voice sounded suspiciously like Peter’s AI), called him, “Junior! We need your help on this, _please_. This was supposed to be the equation for Hawkeye’s shrinking arrows, but Carl _tripped,_ slid his arm across it, and erased most of it. We think this is close to how it was, but it doesn’t seem quite right.”

 

Peter spun the board upside-down and studied the familiar equation for a minute before erasing and rewriting a section and changing a couple numbers. “There, that should be it. Also, this sign here should be positive, and this one negative. And, you guys are good!”

 

The group gave a collective sigh of relief and thanked Peter. “Oh, here!” he pulled out a small device from his pocket, “put this in the nock of one of the arrows you’ll give Clint. It’ll explode with glitter when he shoots it and I need to get him back for stealing my doughnuts yesterday. Thanks!” Peter waved and decided to order pizza for an early dinner. “Anyone here want pizza? No? Ok, suit yourselves. FRIDAY, place my usual order for pizzas, please.”

 

“Of course, Mini Boss. The order has been placed.”

 

Peter groaned and blushed: he _had_ to figure out how Shuri had changed his name in the system.

 

He stuck around the labs for another half-hour, helping with various projects, before FRIDAY alerted him, “Mini Boss, your pizza has arrived.”

 

“Thank you FRIDAY, I’ll go get it now.”

 

He froze when she spoke again, “I must alert you that Mr. Barton has collected the pizza and paid for it.”

 

“FRIDAY,” he said slowly, “Where is Clint now?”

 

“I lost visual on him when he entered the vents.”

 

“Oooh no, he is _NOT_ getting away with this.” He walked to an armored cabinet, placed his hand on the scanner and took out a tranquilizer gun. “FRIDAY, what would be Clint’s lethal dosage with this tranquilizer? And what is the optimal dosage?”

 

“I would recommend two shots to effectively render him unconscious. Any more than five shots would be lethal, so I cannot recommend that.”

 

“Thanks FRI. Please open Wall Vent 75-D. And make an obnoxious daily reminder for Tony to ‘put video surveillance in the vents already!’”

 

The vent in the wall next to Peter opened and Peter climbed through, letting FRIDAY close it behind him. The interns shook their heads and continued with their work.

 

________________________________________

 

 

The first thing the tour group saw when they entered the higher labs was the legs of someone disappearing into a vent. Doris sighed and asked one of the interns, “What is it this time?”

 

“Pizza. Tranq gun.”

 

Doris nodded like that explained everything. Maybe it did. “Ok, everyone, in this group of labs, high-level interns and scientists work primarily on Avenger’s tech.” Many of the students grew excited at this. “As with the arc reactor, we cannot show you much of the equations and actual science that goes into the tech due to security reasons. However, we can give you some demonstrations of the tech.” For the next half-hour, the decathlon team was given demonstrations on several pieces of non-lethal Avenger’s tech, including a projectile taser that can take down multiple targets, the prototype for Hawkeye’s shrinking arrow, and glasses that can give a full medical scan in seconds.

 

Amid several questions regarding the tech, Cindy asked, “Who disappeared into that vent and why?”

 

Doris didn’t get a chance to answer as at that very moment, Tony Stark walked into the room, wearing his famous Media Smile and sunglasses, “That was either Barton or Mini Me.” He looked at one of the interns who started when they realized he wanted clarification, “Uh, it was Junior, Sir.”

 

Tony nodded and opened his mouth to say something, when a ceiling vent crashed to the ground, along with Hawkeye himself. He jumped up, carrying two pizza boxes and ran from the room just as Peter, holding a futuristic-looking gun dropped gracefully from the vent, screaming, “CLINT ‘HAWKEYE’ BARTON, GET BACK HERE WITH MY PIZZA, YOU SECOND-RATE THIEVING PIGEON!” He disappeared after Clint just as quickly as he had appeared.

 

Tony rubbed his eyes under his glasses and asked FRIDAY, “FRI, what gun is he carrying?”

 

“The non-enhanced human-strength tranquilizer gun Boss.”

 

“Has he shot Barton yet?”

 

“No Boss, just threatened to so far. . . . correction: he has now shot Mr. Barton twice.”

 

“Lethal dose?”

 

“Six shots or more, Sir.”

 

Tony nodded, “Are they still on this floor?”

 

“Mini Boss is no longer on his floor; he is moving to his personal lab for an early dinner after having shot Mr. Barton three more times.” The class audibly choked at that statement. “Mr. Barton is unconscious on this floor.”

 

Tony smiled with a gleam in his eyes, “Since Petey-Pie has his pizza now, why don’t we pay his lab a visit?”

 

Abe raised his hand, “You don’t seem that surprised or upset that he shot Hawkeye, sir.”

 

Tony let out a fond chuckle, “I’m just glad he’s not using rubber bullets this time.” He turned around and strode toward the elevator, leaving the students to gape widely while following him. On the way to the elevator, Tony stopped by a prone Clint Barton and took several embarrassing selfies with him.

 

The class still wasn’t entirely sure Junior was Peter Parker; after all, they still hadn’t gotten a clear view of his face and his voice was so different from that of the shy, under-confident nerd they knew. They rode the elevator up several floors in a daze, wondering about this intern who can shoot an Avenger and get away with it.

 

______________________________________

 

 

Peter sighed in contentment as he arrived to his lab, setting the pizza boxes on one of the tables. He grabbed a paper plate and feasted on his loaded pizza while studying the prototype web fluid formula on the holoscreen in front of him, making the occasional verbal adjustment with Karen’s help.

 

His Spidey-Sense flared slightly but he ignored it; it wasn’t danger level, just someone-was-watching-him level. He grinned when he heard his dad’s voice, “Hey Petey, I ran into a tour group in the Higher Labs and thought, ‘You know what? Tour groups almost never get to see my favorite intern in his natural habitat.’ So I decided to bring them here.”

 

“Uh-huh, just a second Dad,” he replied absentmindedly. “I’m working on my new web formula. Oh! I finished the solvent earlier! It should work like a charm and make the police's job easier!”

 

He fell off his chair when a lot of people screeched, “DAD?!?!”

 

 _Oh no. Please don’t be-_   Yep, his decathlon team. “Ned? MJ? Mr. Harrington? What’s going on?”

 

“Well, uh, Peter, we’re here on a field trip.”

 

“Yeah dude, and you just called Tony Stark ‘Dad’ in front of the entire Decathlon team,” Ned supplied helpfully. He looked like he was simultaneously trying to keep on a sympathetic face and trying not to burst out laughing.

 

Peter . . . looked petrified **(is that a pun?)**. While MJ furiously sketched what was presumably his face, Peter suddenly grinned impishly, “It’s not like they can say anything about it: they signed the NDA’s, right?”

 

Doris nodded with a smile and Peter relaxed into his chair, “If you guys have any questions, I suggest you ask them now.”

 

“Are you Tony Stark’s secret son?” Cindy asked. Flash was strangely quiet.

 

Peter shook his head, “I’m not his biological son.”

 

“But you called him ‘Dad.’”

 

Peter hesitated for a second, his eyes flicking to Tony and back to his teammates, “He adopted me when, when May died.”

 

That opened the floodgates and immediately all of his teammates were surrounding him, demanding answers to all of their questions.

 

“Do you know Thor?”

 

“Have you touched Captain America’s shield?”

 

“So you really do know Spider-Man?”

 

Peter was glad his entire school didn’t take get a trip here because then this would never stay a secret.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos if you liked it and let me know in the comments what you did and didn't like so I can improve!!!


	2. Flash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is so short. I needed a way to add Flash beginning to physically bully Peter, but I couldn't think of any way to make it longer.  
> I hope you like it still

Flash was pissed: his parents have been on his back ever since Spider-Man wrecked his dad's car (They didn’t even seem to care that he had helped a superhero!), Ms. Warren (he suspected) has been giving him lower grades _just_ to see him fail—Flash ignored the fact that he had no evidence for this; and Parker—freaking Puny Penis Parker—revealed to the Decathlon team that he lived with freaking _Iron Man._ I mean, how does an intern even get into that position?!

 

So yeah, Flash was pissed. It’s been weeks since the trip and Flash had successfully avoided interacting with the insufferable Parker for this long, but now, he was actively seeking him out. He woke up with a terrible headache that was exacerbated by the droning coming from all the students in the school. Why couldn’t people just be quiet for _five minutes?_

 

Flash cornered Peter in an abandoned hallway and shoved him into the rusty lockers, “Where do you think you’re going, _Penis?”_ He kneed Peter in the gut and watched with pleasure as he groaned pitifully. He’d never gotten physical before, but he didn’t care. He just enjoyed the pain he was causing.

 

“You think you’re something special? Parading around with your _Stark Industries_ sweater and making up excuses to leave classes? Pathetic.” He kicked Peter in the gut again and then punched him in the face. “You will never amount to anything, Penis. You’re just a charity case and failure.”

 

Flash froze mid-swing when a very recognizable voice interrupted, “Are you talking about Peter or yourself, _Eugene?”_ Flash slowly turned and blanched at the sight of Tony Stark looking absolutely _livid_ with an Iron Man gauntlet formed around his hand. “That’s right, step away from my kid.” He complied, shaking.

 

“If I EVER, hear about you touching Peter again, I will not hesitate to absolutely ruin your future at having a job at any respectable establishment. I _would_ kill you now but that’s illegal and also Peter wouldn’t like it. Now, leave; and never touch my son again. Do I make myself clear?” Flash nodded and ran.

 

__________________________________

 

 

As soon as Flash was gone, Peter staggered to his feet and embraced Tony. He mumbled into the man’s shirt, “You didn’t have to threaten him. I’m sure your presence was scary enough.”

 

Tony huffed a laugh and squeezed Peter tighter, “Of course I did: you’re my kid. Is it too late to kill him?”

 

“Don’t you dare.”

 

________________________________

 

Later, when they were watching Star Wars surrounded by a concerning amount of pillows and blankets, Peter turned to Tony and whispered, "I love you Dad."

 

Tony absolutely did  _not_ have tears in his eyes at Peter's first time saying that, "I love you too kid." 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me know in the comments what you thought


	3. Hangout

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I posted the first chapter, I was not planning on continuing this. But, ya'll asked me to, so I did
> 
> Enjoy!

Bobbing his head along to the music playing from his earbuds on his way to school, Peter peered at his SI patented smart glasses and read through the group texts he missed due to staying out on patrol almost all night. The chat was between him, Shuri, and Loki; though, if the Avengers found out Loki was alive and his friend, they might just ban Peter from ever seeing him again. Peter didn’t know why they distrusted Loki so much; I mean, sure, New York was bad but Loki was being mind controlled. Peter was just glad Nebula killed Thanos before he could do anymore harm.

 

Group chat: Meme Team

 

_11:25 p.m._

MemeQueen: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

Stabby: Princess, please stop; I believe the spiderling in currently on patrol

 

MemeQueen: :(

 

MemeQueen: Whachu doin Stabby?

 

Stabby: Oh you know just planning how to dramatically reveal my livingness to Thor. Maybe I should poison his coffee. No, his pop tarts. He LOVES those disgusting things

 

MemeQueen: How DARE you insult my favorite gourmet breakfast!!!! >:(((((

 

Stabby: Seriously

 

_1:27 a.m._

MemeQueen: [clip showing Shuri holding an open bleach container and drinking it]

 

Stabby: Jumping out a window would be more dramatic

 

MemeQueen: nah boi, I’m not trying to die this time. Its Kool-aid

 

MemeQueen: T’Challa walked in and saw me drinking that and he looked like he was having an aneurysm

 

MemeQueen: T’Challa: *rubbing his eyes* “Shuri, _why_ are you drinking bleach?”

 

MemeQueen: Me: “I ran out of Tide Pods.”

 

MemeQueen: He walked out

 

_MemeQueen has changed the name of the chat to “Bleach Bois”_

 

Stabby: *sigh*

 

_7:45 a.m._

MemeQueen: This chat is so dead rn

 

Stabby: I am literally considered dead

 

MemeQueen: Help me spam Peter until he responds

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

Stabby: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

Stabby: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

Stabby: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

Stabby: Peter

 

MemeQueen: Peter

 

Stabby: Peter

 

Arachnophobe: Guys, please. I’m on my way to school!

 

MemeQueen: Peter! If ur on ur way to school y r u texting?

 

Arachnophobe: I’m using my BT glasses

 

MemeQueen: Wow talk about old-school

 

MemeQueen: Wait, you’re in America. That’s the latest tech. HAH sucka

 

Arachnophobe: [pic of Peter pouting] cAn i hAvE SomE kImoYo bEaDs?

 

MemeQueen: I’ll bring em next time I come

 

Stabby: Are we ever going to hang out?

 

Stabby: It’s so _boring_ pretending to be dead

 

Arachnophobe: then y do u keep doing it?

 

Stabby: You know I had to do it to ‘em.

 

MemeQueen: afjhghajldskfhsdfi

 

Arachnophobe: ajfhgafdsgfohfgo

 

Arachnophobe: aww you beat me to it :(

 

MemeQueen: Turn that frown upside down

 

Arachnophobe: Due to the orientation of the parenthesis representing the frown, flipping it upside-down would not change its appearance

 

MemeQueen: Nerd.

 

MemeQueen: Fine. Flip that frown along its vertical axis

 

Arachnophobe: ):

 

MemeQueen: yOU KNOW WHAT

 

Arachnophobe: Gotta go, @ school, ttyl!

 

Peter chuckled and slid his glasses into a pocket in his backpack. He missed the last couple texts in the chat:

 

MemeQueen: I’m on my way to America rn.

 

MemeQueen: Brother needs a break from my antics so I’m leaving

 

MemeQueen: Apparently, when he said he needed a break from my antics, he did not mean “leave the country”

 

Stabby: You stole a ship, didn’t you

 

MemeQueen: Of course ;)

  
Stabby: *sigh* when Peter gets out of school we’re watching The Office at my place

 

MemeQueen: Deal

 

_____________________________

 

 

Several hours later, Peter checked his messages as he left the school and saw the plans the other two made. Shooting a text to his dad letting him know he would be hanging out with some friends, he hurried to Loki’s house and hoped he didn’t miss any episodes.

 

He arrived at the same time as Shuri and greeted her with a hug. “Hey, Shuri. I assume you are tracking your brother’s kimoyo beads?”

 

“Yes, and unfortunately, he is tracking mine. _But,_ he will let me stay over the Tower today and tomorrow.”

 

“Cool.”

 

They strolled toward the family room to find Loki already set up with tea and The Office on the TV. “Hello, children. I was about to start without you.”

 

“You wouldn’t dare,” Shuri glared at Loki.

 

“Oh, I beg to differ.”

 

“Then beg.”

 

The room was silent for a moment before Loki muttered, “I set myself up for that one.”

 

Peter chortled and flopped down on the sofa, high-fiving Shuri. “Let the binge begin!”

 

For the next few hours, they engaged in random commentary and bouts of laughter at the on-screen antics, enjoying each other’s company; it was nice, to be kids together, without adult supervision--Loki didn’t count.

 

“Do you think we should bring Wanda in on this?”

 

Shuri answered without looking from the screen, “No duh, I’ve been wondering why she wasn’t joining us. Invite her next time, and tell her about Loki too. It would be better to not have her freak out.”

 

At some point during the binge, Peter ended up with his feet in Loki’s lap and his head in Shuri’s lap. She was absent-mindedly running her fingers through his curls and the sensation was so soothing, he let himself purr, something he rarely did with anyone but Tony.

 

He felt Shuri shift to let her unoccupied arm rest on his chest and smiled when he realized she did it to feel the vibrations from his purring.

 

“Just kiss already, you two.”

 

The two jerked their faces away from the TV and glared at Loki. “What? You’re not exactly being subtle about your feelings. The Avengers are even making bets about when you will get together.”

 

Peter and Shuri gaped at Loki, “ _How_ do you know this, exactly?”

 

“I’m a high-level intern in SI under my alias, obviously. The blackmail material I get just from watching them interact with the other interns is glorious.”

 

“What’s your alias?”

 

“Tom Hiddleston.”

 

“Sounds British.” Loki simply nodded.

 

Peter, still lying down, looked up at Shuri and smiled, saying teasingly in Xhosa, “ **So, Princess, wanna kiss me?** ”

 

She smirked back, “ **Nope.** ”

 

“ **Will you marry me?** ”

 

Shuri gaped for a second before grinning maniacally, “Yes, I accept!”

 

“Wait, what did I say? I meant to say ‘Don’t you like me?’ _What did I say?!”_

 

“Well, _fiancé,”_ she responded slowly and Peter’s eyes widened, “since you love me _so much_ , you proposed, and I accepted. We are now engaged.”

 

Peter flushed deep red and buried his face in his hands, “Oh God, you’re never letting this go are you?”

 

“Nope! But I _am_ thinking about kissing you.” Peter sat up on his elbows, gawking at her. “Well?”

 

Loki subtly turned invisible to give them some semblance of privacy.

 

Slowly, like he was still unsure if she was serious or not, Peter leaned forward, keeping his eyes locked with Shuri. He wasn’t even half-way there when she leaned forward and locked their lips together and _wow!_ His pining and hitherto believed-to-be unrequited love was worth it if he could feel _this._ He smiled into the kiss and slipped a hand to her cheek, brushing his thumb lightly over it.

 

They broke the kiss and Peter stared at her with a dazed look and dilated pupils, “Will you be my girlfriend?”

 

She shrugged and gave him a cheeky grin, “No, but you get to be my boyfriend, lucky you!”

 

He laughed, giving her another, lingering kiss before lying back down. “Lucky me,” he responded dreamily.

 

Loki turned visible again and they continued watching the show. Shuri continued running her hands through Peter’s hair, and Peter held her other hand on his chest, purring contentedly.

 

“Should we tell the others?”

 

“Nah, we should mess with them for as long as possible.”

 

“Yes, please do so; it will be most amusing to watch.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos if you liked it and let me know in the comments what you did and didn't like so I can improve!


	4. Confusion

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> High-low! I'm back! The trip was great!
> 
> Enjoy the new chapter!!
> 
> Credit to Spawn_Hades for the lightsaber idea

The confusion began the next day, when Peter and Shuri walked into the common room at lunchtime . . . holding hands. There was an instant explosion of excitement.

 

“Yes! I told you, Bird Brain. ‘One more month,’ that’s what I said. Fifty bucks, now.”

 

“No way, Tony. It hasn’t been confirmed yet.”

 

Peter interjected, “Um, what are you guys talking about?”

 

Tony clapped and gestured to their hands, grinning, “Are you two together?”

 

Their faces showed confusion, before Peter lifted their connected hands, “This? Oh, no, we were just now making a live-action remake of The Lion King, the scene when Scar kills Mufasa, and my hand got stuck. We were actually looking for some grease or butter to try to un-stick ourselves. A crowbar didn’t work.” Peter and Shuri rummaged through the cupboards while talking, “Stark! Where do you keep the oil in this place? Ah ha! Never mind! I found it!”

 

Peter held the container while Shuri undid the cap, then poured a little bit of oil on their hands. “This isn't working,” he exclaimed, doing a good job of sounding frustrated. Peter and Shuri locked eyes and solemnly nodded. Without warning, Shuri grabbed a pan and wacked Peter over the head, knocking him out and effectively relaxing his body enough to un-stick their hands.

 

“Why did you do that?!” Steve shouted.

 

Shuri shrugged, “We agreed it would be a last resort,” and exited the room, leaving Peter unconscious on the floor.

_______________

 

Later, Loki, in his intern form—a pleasant-looking man with brown hair and a short, curly beard—stepped out of the elevator and placed a stack of papers on a coffee table. “Mr. Stark, these high-level projects are waiting for your approval. I was hoping to start my own research on any . . . magical items we may have in storage?”

 

Peter snorted and pretended he was laughing at something on his phone.

 

“I’m sorry Tom. Until we receive approval from Thor, I can’t give the go ahead.”

 

“Oh well, it can’t be helped. Oh, Princess Shuri? Although it is not a part of my job description, I _have_ processed your request for dinner reservations for two.”

 

Shuri grinned as she caught on to Loki’s ploy, “Thank you, Tom. You reserved the table I asked for?”

 

Loki nodded, “It was difficult at first, but a discreet mention of royalty and the spot suddenly became available.”

 

“Thank you Tom!”

 

After he left, the present Avengers turned on Peter and Shuri, “So,” Sam smirked, “dinner reservations?”

 

The two teenagers ignored them and continued watching vines on Peter’s phone.

 

Two hours later found Peter and Shuri dressed in a fancy suit and undercover-female-assassinesque dress respectively, and the Avengers not-so-discreetly spying on them.

 

“Clint, hand over the binoculars, your turn is up.”

 

“We brought plenty of binoculars for everyone, Sam. Get your own.”

 

“You idiots are still using binoculars?” Tony harrumphed, tapping his glasses and zooming in on Shuri and Peter’s table.

 

“Tony, how are we supposed to know what they are saying?”

 

“Relax, Spangles, I found what table they reserved and planted a bug an hour ago. Here,” he tapped a screen on the van wall, activating audio.

 

“-en do you think we should start?”

 

“I came up with this plan on the fly, but it’s a good one. Fun too, don’t worry. I planted cameras all around the restaurant, so we won’t miss a single reaction.”

 

The Avengers looked at each other confused: what were they doing?

 

“Good; so, to recap,” Peter whispered, “we start arguing loudly, we start physically fighting, you shoot me with an empty dart and I pretend to get dizzy. Then, you say your line and do the thing before leaving.”

 

“Check. And you can get up whenever after I leave. Extra points for vine quotes.”

 

“Are they doing some kind of public prank or something?”

 

Peter sighed happily, “We should do social experiments more often.” A delivery truck pulled up to the curb, temporarily blocking their view; at the same time, the audio cut out. As Tony scrambled, trying to figure out why the bug had stopped working, the truck moved out of the way, revealing Peter and Shuri calmly readjusting in their seats; the bug also suddenly started working with no prompting.

 

“I think they were kissing when we couldn’t see.”

 

“I should have put cameras in there.”

 

“Shh, something’s happening.”

 

Peter and Shuri seemed to get into a heated whispering argument when Peter suddenly threw the table on its side, and they started fighting. It looked like a movie fight scene: they grabbed knives and fought expertly with them, stabbing, blocking, slashing.

 

“You shouldn’t have stolen from us,” Shuri snarled as she lunged with her knife. 

 

He dodged and retorted, “Stop snitchin’ mothertrucker.” He spoke carefully because there were children present, obviously.

 

Shuri hit the back of Peter’s knees and they fell on top of one another, knives at each other’s throats. They stayed like that, frozen for a moment before surging forward and kissing passionately.

 

“Yes! I _told_ you!”

 

“Shh, they’re still going!”

 

As their tongues danced, Shuri reached under the hem of her dress and pulled out a gun, with which she shot Peter in the neck. His head lolled, a dart sticking out of his neck, as Shuri sat him up by pulling his shirt. She wrapped an arm around his neck from behind and stated, “The Udaku send their regards,” twisting his neck with a sickening crunch. She straightened, left the diner without looking back, and slipped into a silver Audi, driving off with squealing tires.

 

Several of the other patrons whispered and pointed at Peter’s body. “Is- is he dead?”

 

People screamed when Peter suddenly shot to his feet and shouted, “I’m a bad bench you can’t kill me.” He dropped a large wad of cash in a waiter’s hand and patted his shoulder, “For the damages.” The patrons stared at him as he left the restaurant and hailed a taxi, without even pulling out the dart.

 

The Avengers sat there stunned.

 

“So, are we agreed? Are they together?”

 

“I don’t even know anymore.”

________________________

 

The next day, T’Challa came early to discuss a few matters with the Avengers before he would return to Wakanda with Shuri. During the discussion, both he and Steve heard the bouncing of bed springs and grunts and exclamations filtering form the sleeping quarters. They would have dismissed it as one of the couples of the Avengers . . . _fondueing_ , were it not for the fact that all such couples were present, except for Peter and Shuri, who had excused themselves “for science reasons.” As the sounds escalated, the others began hearing them as well, and both T’Challa and Tony rushed toward the rooms.

 

The sounds seemed to be coming from Peter’s room, so they obviously burst through the door without warning.

 

They were greeted with a very different sight from what they assumed they would find: Peter and Shuri fighting with lightsabers on the bed, Shuri with a red lightsaber and Peter with a blue lightsaber. As they watched, Peter flipped up onto the ceiling and continued trading blows with Shuri, ignoring the obvious red burns present on portions of their legs and arms and the burnt clothing in those areas.

 

They fought for a few more seconds, when Shuri twisted her lightsaber, clipping Peter’s wrist and leaving another angry red burn; she flicked her lightsaber to his neck and stilled, breathing heavily. “You lose, Jedi.”

 

Peter huffed and dropped from the ceiling, “How did you win? The Jedi should always win!”

 

“Oh really,” she teased, “Like when Qui-gon Jinn won against Darth Maul? Oh wait, Darth Maul won that fight.”

 

Peter picked up his lightsaber from where it fell on the floor and pointed it at her, “Lucasfilm Studios _did_ release a statement that Qui-gon was the only one that could have kept Anakin from going Dark Side, so yes, Qui-gon _should_ have won that fight. Oh, hi Dad! Mr. T’Challa Sir. Is everything ok?”

 

Tony and T’Challa shook themselves, slightly relieved, and Tony said, “Sorry to burst in; we thought we heard something but we were wrong. Carry on.” Tony stopped shutting the door part-way and continued, “Just . . . be careful.”

 

They waited a few seconds after Tony closed the door before dissolving into giggles, “I think we slightly overdid it on the groans.”

 

Shuri nodded and composed herself, raising her lightsaber challengingly, “Rematch?”

 

“You’re on!”

______________________

 

As T’Challa and Shuri prepared to leave, Peter and the other Avengers gathered to give their farewells. Shuri simply waved—she would visit soon again anyways—and gave a cheeky grin.

 

Then, to the absolute shock everyone, she leaped onto Peter, wrapped her arms and legs around his torso, and smashed her lips against his. The Avengers just stood there, unresponsive, as the two made out for several seconds before separating. Without a glance back, Shuri boarded the ship; Peter nonchalantly strolled back into the Tower, ignoring the gaping Avengers. When they crowded around him, demanding he confirm what they just saw, he replied innocently, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Leave kudos if you liked it and let me know in the comments what you did or didn't like so I can improve!


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